“The message from [IIHF president Rene] Fasel to Russia, Sweden, Finland — who wanted to extend the deadline — is no,” LeBrun said. “The deal we made with the NHL and NHLPA will remain, Dec. 31.”

It’s unclear why the deadline is being extended, or why the federations LeBrun mentioned were keen to have it pushed.

USA Hockey had planned to announce its roster during the Winter Classic broadcast on Jan. 1 (ESPN also reports that Team USA had been given an exemption to the original Dec. 31 deadline).

Update No. 1

More, from LeBrun:

Sources indicate that while he was standing firm against pressure from Russia, Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic to move the deadline, Fasel was back-channeling with the NHLPA and NHL on Tuesday and Wednesday to see if there was any wiggle room at all — with the key person to convince being NHLPA executive director Donald Fehr.

The NHLPA likes the early roster deadline because it allows players who are selected to plan ahead and make plans with family members, etc. For the NHL, it’s more about marketing. Thus, Fehr was the key cog who needed convincing.

Minnesota Wild goalie Devan Dubnyk has been the most difficult goalies to score against this season. Leave it to a high-level player like Leon Draisaitl to make it look this, well, “easy.”

Draisaitl scored his 13th goal of 2016-17 by capping this pretty give-and-go play with Benoit Pouliot. You can see the frustration from Dubnyk at the end of the tally, as if he was saying “How was I supposed to stop that?” (though probably with more colorful language).

Draisaitl came into Friday with five goals and three assists in his last five games, so he’s been almost unstoppable lately.